USA TODAY Review

Shalom Auslander ponders a cranky old Anne Frank in 'Hope'

It takes some chutzpah for an author who is not yet famous, or 40, to publish a memoir, and title it with a wink at the semi-autobiographical novel that made Philip Roth a superstar.

Published in 2007, Foreskin's Lament earned Shalom Auslander glowing reviews, some of which mentioned Roth and Portnoy's Complaint in particular. So it's not surprising that Auslander's next move would be even more audacious: to write a book in which Anne Frank is portrayed as a comic figure — and a pain in the neck, to boot.

The Anne we meet in Hope: A Tragedy, Auslander's first novel, is not the wise, doomed young girl history remembers, but a cranky, foul-mouthed old Holocaust survivor who has been holed up in the attic of a New York farmhouse for decades, plotting a follow-up to her own memoir.

Solomon Kugel, Hope's Job-like protagonist, discovers her after buying the house from a rather shady couple. Solomon, who already has his hands full with a needy mother, needling wife and sickly child, has extra cause to be wary: His mom claims to be a survivor, as well, constantly muttering about her family's persecutors — though in truth, the only camp in her past was in the Catskills.

But Solomon believes Anne's story instinctively, and his anger toward her is increasingly tinged with sympathy, even a sense of responsibility. Jewish guilt is involved, though Solomon's perpetual anguish, which grows steadily, seems intended more to reflect the human condition than the plight of any particular tribe.

Dark humor abounds, some of it scatological. With no toilet in the attic, unspeakable smells waft through the vents. Solomon has his own gastrointestinal issues, as well as a shrink who insists that his main problem is his refusal to succumb to the despair enveloping him.

Does Auslander agree? Given his flamboyantly sardonic, smart-alecky style, it's hard to say. But while Solomon may himself be hopeless, his gallows wit and stubborn, almost unconscious tenderness can be oddly inspiring.

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